Overview:

Everyone loves to dine at the fanciest, highest quality restaurants in town, but not everyone can afford it. So while the ritziest bastards are out having a blast at the local 5-star, you’re at home munching on bologna and cheese with a side of chips. But how jealous would your rich neighbors be if they knew you were able to enjoy the same exquisite flavor as their $26 appetizer in the form of a $1.50 can of potato-based snacks?

That’s the concept behind the newest line of Pringles products: Restaurant Cravers. Take the flavor or exquisite dining appetizers and, somehow, pack it in to a single can for everyone to enjoy. Think Doritos Late Nights, only no where near as good.

Review:

I’ve never been a huge fan of Pringles, save a few flavors like Cheese and Pizza, with the occasional Sour Cream and Onion. They all just taste the same, you know? That and the fact that you can never get the last quarter of the stack of chips out because your hands are too damn big. Stupid can.

Anyway, I had heard some rumblings about how these products were supposed to be a lot like the Doritos Late Night chips, and since I love those with a passion that burns hotter than.. well, something really hot, I figured I’d give these a shot.

I grabbed a can of these while roaming the aisles at the grocery store in which I serve as an indentured servant (employee, slave, hostage, sex toy. Whatever you want to call it, it’s all the same to them) after clocking out for one of my few short breaks throughout the day. I took them upstairs and popped the top, not being able to control my anxiety for what I thought would be another amazing miracle chip.

I raised the cardboard cylinder to my nose, taking in a deep sampling of… cardboard. Damn can ruins everything. Shifting focus from aromatic sensation to flavor pleasure, I popped a couple in my mouth, drenching my shirt in crumbs as I chewed the stack of 5 crisps.

Disappointment.

But don’t get me wrong, these do taste a lot closer to Mexican Dip than you might think, it just takes several handfuls of conformatively-shaped crisps for it to start to hit you. At first you’ll think these are just another Pringles chip, one that tastes like the vast majority of the other flavors. Keep eating and you’ll soon realize your pallet has changed its mind, almost like it has accepted what it is eating. That’s when you start to taste, most notably, the olive with a slight rumbling of what could be backed beans and sour cream in the background.

Satisfaction!

Though it is slight, you’ll appreciate these new Pringles for being unique and having a distinct flavor that, more closely than not, reflects its name. As far as being compared to Late Night Doritos? No, gtfo of my house.

Final Words:

All in all I was pleasantly surprised with the Mexican Layered Dip flavor of Pringle’s Restaurant Cravers series. I feel, however, that they are destined to drown in the vast ocean of other flavors that exists on the Pringles shelf in every convenience store, which is a real shame considering they are a lot better than a lot of the other flavors that are out there. Not to mention they are about 50 cents or so more expensive than the others. No college kid is going to waste booze money on that.

And the stupid cans!

If you’re looking for miracle chips that taste like what they claim to be, stick to your Tacos at Midnight. Those are easily the best potato chips ever.

And to hold you over until we get to take a look at the other flavors, our friends over at The Impulsive Buy reviewed the Onion Blossom flavor.

Pros

• Tastes a lot like a Layered Dip after you eat a few
• Pringles are the funnest chips to eat thanks to their mass-produced shape

Cons

• The taste of black olives is a little overpowering compared to the other flavors that should be present
• Seriously, Pringles cans can burn in hell.

Score: 7.25/10 (Not bad)

Aroma: 7.0/10 (Smells like cardboard thanks to that damn cylindrical prison the crisps are forced to reside in)
Flavor: 7.75/10 (After a few crisps you’ll start to notice the flavor of olives and some other dip ingredients)
Value: 7.0/10 (More expensive than your standard Pringles, but not absurd)